Buzzkill: Scientists Create the O’Doul’s of Pot

While some high-minded scientists have been diligently working to bring more potent strains to life, others have been doing the exact opposite: finding ways to prevent marijuana from getting us stoned.

Researchers from the University of Bordeaux in France say they have discovered that a popular anti-aging hormone known as pregnenolone is capable of taming some of the unwanted effects brought on by filling one’s lungs full of THC. And while we here at HIGH TIMES are just as confused as you are right now in regards to what exactly constitutes "ill effects" derived from smoking marijuana, scientists say they include memory loss, drug cravings and other common symptoms associated with a “bad trip.”

The study, which was published in the latest edition of Science, was established to investigate the effect marijuana on the production of steroids in the brains of mice. What researchers discovered was that pregnenolone, the precursor to all steroid hormones, plays an important role in the regulation of cannabinoid receptors -- the natural molecules that jive with THC to create the feeling of being stoned. Scientists say the more THC given to the mice, the more pregnenolone their brains produced, which dramatically killed the effects of their buzz.

Scientists believe they have essentially found the recipe for creating the O’Doul’s of marijuana, a smoker’s cocktail that may eventually be beneficial hundreds of years from now when someone finally decides the time has come to organize the pothead equivalent of Alcoholics Anonymous. “The parts that are shut down are the ones that mediate many of the effects of cannabis that you may want to get rid of,” says lead study author, Pier Vincenzo Piazza. “One is memory loss, another is [reduced] motivation and the third is seeking for the drug.”

Researchers say that although the presence of pregnenolone in the brain does appear to put a cap on the intensity of THC in the user’s system, individuals typically do not smoke enough pot for this to occur. However, some of us here in the HIGH TIMES Laboratory of Stoner Sciences have experienced a strange phenomenon that can only be described as "smoked sober," in which so much marijuana is consumed over a short period of time that a good, cross-eyed buzz just somehow manages to evaporate before our very eyes.

Mike Adams writes for stoners and smut enthusiasts in High Times, Playboy’s The Smoking Jacket and Hustler Magazine. You can follow him on Twitter @adamssoup and on Facebook/mikeadams73.

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